India and Australia Strengthen Defence Partnership with New Supply Agreement and Enhanced Undersea Surveillance Cooperation
New Delhi: India and Australia on Monday agreed to develop a defence supplies and services pact while strengthening cooperation in maritime surveillance, undersea domain awareness, and military interoperability as the two Quad partners deepen strategic coordination in the Indo-Pacific. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles co-chaired the second India-Australia Defence Ministers' Dialogue in New Delhi, just eight months after their inaugural meeting in Australia, with Marles arriving and describing the two countries as "top-tier security partners."
A key outcome was the decision to begin work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for defence articles and services provision, which both sides called the next step in deepening defence-industrial collaboration. The ministers welcomed Australia's first defence trade mission to India and the Australia-India Defence Industry Roundtable, both held last October. Sources indicated the MoU's specifics remain under negotiation but are expected to provide a framework for closer defence-industrial cooperation, including potential collaboration in defence manufacturing, sustainment, and supply chains.
Maritime security dominated the agenda as both sides agreed to advance collaborative maritime domain awareness activities using maritime patrol aircraft and explore opportunities to enhance undersea domain awareness, while encouraging further cooperation between the Indian Coast Guard and Australia's Maritime Border Command. India and Australia will jointly host a Search and Rescue tabletop exercise in Chennai later this month under the Indian Ocean Rim Association framework. Both sides agreed to further improve interoperability under the 2020 Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement and confirmed that inaugural Joint Staff Talks will be held later this year.
This maritime push aligns with the Quad's evolving security agenda, which received a fresh boost at last week's foreign ministers' meeting in the capital. The ministers backed the new Quad Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration initiative and welcomed India's operationalisation of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness through the Information Fusion Centre in Gurugram.
Military engagement between the two countries is set to intensify further. The statement confirmed both sides will operationalise their first bilateral air-to-air refuelling exercise during Exercise Pitch Black. India will participate in Australia's Operation Render Safe for the first time, while Australia has invited India to join the submarine rescue exercise Black Carillon, pointing to growing cooperation in specialised operational domains. Beyond exercises, both countries agreed to step up collaboration in defence science and technology, with particular focus on sensor technologies. Marles invited India to participate in Australia's Defence Science, Technology and Research Summit next year, while officials were tasked with finalising plans for deploying an Indian instructor at the Australian Defence College. The outcomes reinforced broader strategic convergence between the two countries, with the joint statement backing a "free, open, peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific" and reiterating support for freedom of navigation, overflight, and a rules-based maritime order under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
